Jermaine O'Neal Interview

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Pacer star talks zones, the constitution, and playing in the East.

By Victor Kelly

"His name is O'Neal and he is going to be a great player for us in the near future. He is not related to Shaquille O'Neal. Just trust me on this one." Those are the words that echoed in my little tiny ears when Portland's head scout told me about their plans two days before the draft in 1996.

The Portland Trial Blazers selected Jermaine O'Neal in the first round of the NBA draft with the 17th pick and fans in Portland were saying "What are they doing selecting this kid? He's not ready and it's going to take forever. We want to win now, who cares about tomorrow."

I was surprised because he was not on the radar screen, however, people in Portland's front office said, "This kid O'Neal is going to be a great player in this league one day."

Well, guest what? They were right.

He made his debut as the youngest player ever to play in the NBA.

O'Neal was a kid fresh out of high school and had some learning to do about the game at the NBA level, and it took him a while but he passed the test.

The young kid who came into the league quiet, innocent and pure as sugar (brown) and had developed a game that was just as sweet. The only problem was finding minutes for him in the game.

After four years of studying the game in Portland, O'Neal was traded to Indiana were he is now one of the games most talented players. A three time NBA All-Star, O'Neal sat down for a little one-on-one to talk about the youth movement in the NBA, a run for the ring and his progress since leaving Portland Trail Blazers University.

IGN Sports: The Eastern Conference hasn't won an NBA title since 1998, what are the chances of that this season?

Jermaine O'Neal: I think it's extremely high because we keep guys healthy and we feel good about going up against Western Conference teams. The Western Conference has a lot of players, up-tempo type of ball players, but I think our defense slows all of that down. We're able to score a lot of points, but also we can stop other teams from scoring.

IGN Sports: There was a lot of talk All-Star weekend about the East closing the gap, trying to make a statement. Do you feel that the East has closed the gap some over the West this year?

Jermaine O'Neal: Well, I'm not real big into the East/West thing. I feel like I represent the Indiana Pacers and we really don't consider ourselves an Eastern Conference team or a Western Conference team. We consider ourselves a league team. We feel like the first time since the Bulls era that we have a legitimate chance of bringing the Championship back to the East and we feel like we can beat any team in a seven-game series.

IGN Sports: What was it like having a teammate participating All-Star weekend with you?

Jermaine O'Neal: It's a great thing. I think next year we could get three guys in. I think Al Harrington is definitely on his way. He is a guy that can carry our team also. Keeping our coaches here and getting one or two players here is our goal also. We have a good chance of doing that because we have been in the league awhile and we are all young but we have a lot of longevity left in the game.